Wharton prof. Amir Yaron tapped as next governor of the Bank of Israel

Wharton Professor Amir Yaron has been named the next governor of the Bank of Israel.

Yaron, an Israeli-born citizen and the Robert Morris Professor of Banking & Finance, was nominated by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon at a joint press conference on Oct. 9.

He will replace Karnit Flug, who has served for five years and is set to retire next month. At the press conference, Netanyahu said he chose Yaron because of his "intellectual excellence" and expertise in the world economy, Reuters reported.

"This is the one job where you need people who really understand the global economy, monetary policy, and financial systems," Netanyahu told Reuters. "He understands the underlying currents that are affecting the world economy. We are not an island."

Yaron must be officially cleared by a special vetting panel before he starts his new job. In a statement to Reuters, Yaron said he has spoken with Netanyahu and Kahlon "on Israel's economy and its achievements, and on the ways to advance Israel's economy and society and deal with global and local challenges."

The Wharton professor's research focuses on financial econometrics, macro-finance, and asset pricing. Along with his position at Penn, he is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Yaron received an economics Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and obtained a B.A. and M.A. in economics from Tel‐Aviv University.

Yaron has worked at Wharton since 1997 and was named the Robert Morris Professor of Banking in 2009.

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